1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, in general relates to bird seed and, more particularly, to devices that separate the husks apart from the seed of partially eaten birdseed.
It is common for bird owners to feed their birds various types of seeds. The seeds are placed in a dish and the dish is placed in a bird cage. As the birds eat the seeds that are on the surface of the dish they leave behind the husks which accumulate atop the remaining good seeds. Eventually, the remaining seeds are buried underneath a layer of husks. As the husks accumulate, the seeds become increasingly inaccessible to the birds.
As is common, the bird owner then periodically removes the dish with some quantity of good seeds remaining at the bottom and the husks disposed primarily above the good seeds (but with some husks mixed in amongst the good seeds) and, more often than not, discards everything into the trash.
The reason that even the good seeds are discarded is because it is not easy to separate the husks apart from the seeds. Blowing may help but as all too many bird owners know, there is a substantial danger that a husk can be blown out of the dish and strike an eye of the bird owner. The husks are hard and sharp and may at best, irritate the eye or worse yet, severely cut the eye. Clearly, this is undesirable. Furthermore, the husks may be treated with anti-fungal ingredients that can irritate the eyes or body.
The problem of separating the husks apart from the seeds is further compounded by the fact that not all of the husks are on top of the seeds. As the bird rummages for food, some of the husks tend to work their way down into the seeds.
Simply blowing the husks will only remove a portion of the husks that are on the surface. The husks that are dispersed amongst the seeds are not removed by any amount of blowing. Consequently, the bird owner is unable to determine how much of the remaining bulk in the seed dish is good seed and how much of it is husk.
It is important for bird owners to remove almost all of the husks to ensure that what remains are edible seeds. If a bird owner were merely to blow the surface husks off, difficult as that may be, and then replace the dish possibly xe2x80x9ctopping offxe2x80x9d the dish, the bird owner would not know if the dish contained an adequate supply of good seed.
If an insufficient quantity of good seed remained in the dish and if this were left for an extended period of time, this would threaten the health, perhaps even the survival, of the bird (or birds) that are dependent upon the supply of seed.
Furthermore, bird owners find that blowing on the husks and seeds creates a substantial mess. Consequently, bird owners soon realize that if they are to attempt blowing they must do so outside. It takes additional time to remove the seed dish, carry it outside, blow on the seeds to remove as many of the husks as possible, then bring the dish back inside, top it off, and put it back into the cage.
Consequently, most bird owners do not fuss with the husks and the seeds but rather dump all of the contents into the trash. This practice is clearly wasteful of the good remaining seed.
These aforementioned problems apply to all types of birds that consume seeds, for example, canaries, finches, parakeets, conjures, parrots, and the like.
Attempts to mechanically separate the husks (or chaff) apart from the seeds that rely upon moving air fail to address the aforementioned problems. Simply creating a vortex of circulating air is ineffective at removing the husks from the top and is useless at removing the husks that are disposed amongst the seeds.
Accordingly, there exists today a need for a fast, clean, easy, and economical way to thoroughly separate the husks apart from the remaining good seeds.
Clearly, such an apparatus would be a useful and desirable device.
2. Description of Prior Art
Husk separators are, in general, known. For example, the following patents describe various types of these devices:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,796 to Ireland, Apr. 4, 2000;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,622 to Chiang, Dec. 25, 1990; and
U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,903 to Cicero, Nov. 2, 1971.
While the structural arrangements of the above described devices, at first appearance, have similarities with the present invention, they differ in material respects. These differences, which will be described in more detail hereinafter, are essential for the effective use of the invention and which admit of the advantages that are not available with the prior devices.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a seed husk separator that can be used indoors.
It is also an important object of the invention to provide a seed husk separator that is effective at separating husks apart from seeds.
Another object of the invention is to provide a seed husk separator that is inexpensive to manufacture.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a seed husk separator that creates an uneven air flow pattern which is effective at removing husks apart from seed.
Still yet another object of the invention is to provide a seed husk separator that can be battery powered.
Yet another important object of the invention is to provide a seed husk separator that creates an uneven flow of air to optimally agitate and move the husks.
Still yet another important object of the invention is to provide a seed husk separator that includes vibration to settle the good seed to the bottom while using moving air to move the husks that rise to the top apart from the good seed.
Still yet one other important object of the invention is to provide a seed husk separator that can be formed of a pliable type of plastic, similar to that used in TUPPERWARE(trademark) types of products.
Briefly, a seed husk separator that is constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention has an outer container that houses a smaller inner container. The inner container has, generally, a xe2x80x9cW-shapedxe2x80x9d cross-section and it includes a plurality of feet so that it is disposed above the floor of the outer container when placed therein. A vane assembly is preferably attached to a lid which is used as cover over the outer container. The vane assembly includes a plurality of vanes that form arcuate planar surfaces that extend from an inner housing and which contact the inside surface of the inner container when the lid is placed atop the outer container. An electric motor drives a fan which blows air onto the center of the inner container. The motor is disposed in the housing intermediate one end of each of the vanes. The motor includes an offset mass which introduces vibration to the vanes that is coupled to the inner container. During use, seeds including husks are deposited into the inner container which is placed inside the outer container and the lid is attached. A switch is used to actuate the motor for approximately one minute during which time an uneven air flow pattern is directed toward the seeds and the husks that effectively displaces the husks from the seeds. The husks migrate out of inner container and are displaced beyond the edges of the inner container. The husks accumulate and settle underneath the inner container. The vibration causes the majority of the remaining husks, dust, and other light residue to rise to the surface of the seeds where they too are displaced so that primarily, only good seed remains in the inner container. The motor is stopped, the lid is removed, and the good seed is once again used as high quality bird seed.